Relaxing Bounds for Linear RC Mesh Circuits

A new algorithm that produces a sequence of closed-form upper and lower bounds on the response of a very general class of linear RC networks is presented in this paper. The bounds approach arbitrarily close to the actual response by using a successive relaxation method. Since the accuracy of the final bounds can be improved through additional computation, the algorithm is more flexible than previous bounding algorithms. Furthermore, the class of networks considered is more general. The new bounding algorithm treats leaky, linear RC mesh networks in which all capacitors and voltage sources are grounded. Such networks are often used to model large digital MOS circuits in timing analysis programs. The general theory behind the algorithm is presented along with some experimental results.